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Back in 2014, I watched my very first Studio Trigger anime, Kill la Kill. Needless to say it took my breath away with its over the top animation, intense combat scenes, well-designed characters aesthetically and story-wise, and one banger of a soundtrack. Simply put, it was mindless fun that left my teenage self smiling and hyped enough to binge the entire series in a single seating.

Fast forward 7 years on to 2020, and after finding some spare time in my much more busier life, I finally got around to watching Promare. While I had been successfully dodged spoilers since its release, I knew for a ... fact that it was a commercial success, so a part of me subconsciously headed in with high expectations. Would I be able to revisit that adrenaline rush that Kill la Kill gave me years ago?

Needless to say, I did!

Story (10/10): You've definitely gone past the synopsis for this movie before reaching my review, and it pretty much captures the gist of the entire movie: action-packed firefighting in the future. Hell, you can even guess the nature of the movie's plot twist easily from the last sentence! But it's precisely this simplicity that made Promare such an enjoyable watch: it feels like an anime superhero movie that you can go in and enjoy without having to struggle with any crazy plot points coming out of left field. That's not to say that the story is 100% predictable-- there were moments that left me surprised like when the "truth" was revealed and the stakes began to escalate, but in signature Studio Trigger fashion, the troubles were satisfactorily resolved with the power of raw adrenaline.

The story cuts to the chase with some intense fighting from the get-go, but not before providing just enough world-building to ease you into the setting. It also takes this opportunity to establish plot points relevant later on in the movie, but fret not if you're like me and forgets things after one fight scene. Like I said before, simplicity is the name of the game here, and Promare's story is merely a backdrop to frame all the amazing action and dynamic character interactions. The story flows really well from start to finish, with no stone left unturned narrative-wise; you won't be left scratching your head or feeling that something was left amiss.

Art (10/10): If there's one thing every otaku associates Studio Trigger with, it's explosive action scenes, and in that regard they unsurprisingly impressed me once more. They're pretty much the Platinum Games of anime at this point. Coupled with a very, very vibrant pallet this time around (which matches the whole fire-theme of the movie), Promare is an absolute visual spectacle and treat for the eyes, with colourful combat sequences filled with intense effects of all kinds.

The characters also have aesthetically pleasing designs that perfectly capture the signature flair I've come to associate with Studio Trigger. Sure there's some fanservice-y skimpy outfits, but hey, it's all secondary to Galo's ripped bod. In all seriousness though, they don't dwell on fanservice to make us like the characters, which is something not a lot of anime do nowadays.

Oh, and one thing the synopsis doesn't tell you is that Promare is pretty much a mecha anime, and the mecha designs for this show are so outlandishly cool and unique and complement everything else the movie already has going on.

That aside, Promare also utilizes 3D in some scenes as well, and they were executed so well that I couldn't really tell the transition at some points. 3D has always been a sore point in anime, so it's a welcome surprise to see one that pulls it off with aplomb.

TL;DR: Stduio Trigger has done it again in the visuals department.

Sound (10/10): Have you heard of Hiroyuki Sawano? I don't know he does it, but whenever an anime has him working on the soundtrack, it's always cool in every sense of the word. And his style complements something action packed like Kill la Kill before, and now Promare too. I really can't say much about this but basically the music just fits like a glove.

Character (8/10): Alas, there's only so much ground a movie can cover, and while Promare fleshed out the leads well enough, not much love is given to the supporting cast, who you can pretty much fit into one-off archetypes that are fun but fizzle out quickly. But it's not a glaring issue that ruins the movie entirely, in fact I've seen more movies ruined by trying to hamfist character arcs into whatever limited running time they have. Nevertheless I really wish more could have been done to make the supporting cast more memorable and not just convenient plot devices.

And now to the good bits! The chemistry between Lio and Galo was, like everything else I enjoyed, fun to witness. The dynamic between the two, with the brooding Lio clashing with the hot-headed Galo and his exaggerated antics, was a spectacle to behold. And even though it was expected for the pair to warm up to each other, it does so in a way that doesn't come off as rushed or forced. I'm not personally a fan of bromance but I couldn't find myself hating on whatever they got going on over the course of the movie. Whether you choose to interpret it in one way or another, you can't deny that it was essentially the heart of the movie-- and a well-done one at that.

Enjoyment (10/10): I began with a grin on my face, maintained throughout the movie, and ended with it too. All the stuff I've been talking about just made for a fun, rollercoaster ride of an anime I've been longing after watching Kill la Kill all those years ago and the following saturation of anime trying too hard to be what they aren't. Promare so ridiculous and over the top, but like what I said, the fact that it embraces it and you don't have to expect anything too serious-- just some light-hearted, exhilarating action-- made for an experience nothing short of marvelous.

Conclusion: I got everything I asked for and more from Promare, and I can confidently give this a 10/10. It made me remember why Studio Trigger is such a household name in the anime world, and Promare is pretty much their magnum opus. It's just some crazy, explosive fun from start to finish that is impossible to hate.

Don't let the synopsis of the anime fool you; Re:Creators is not just some simple reverse isekai anime. If anything, I daresay it's almost like the Fate series, except that instead of historical/mythological figures we've got the fictional characters we so admire being the ones summoned into our world, and a storyline that has the potential to be just as awesome as the Holy Grail Wars of Fate if the second cour is executed well. The parallels to Fate aside, Re:Creators also serves as an interesting commentary on the state of fictional media industry and fanbases, too. I've thoroughly enjoyed the first cour of the ... anime so far, and I hope my review clears some misconceptions about this series and encourages you to pick this anime up too!

(And fun fact: the director of Re:Creators is none other than Ei Aoki, who worked on Fate/Zero too!)
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Story & Characters: 7/10 & 6/10 respectively

Re:Creators has a pretty interesting premise: what if the fictional characters we've grown to love were to enter our world, the world of the people who made them? This serves as the crux for the story, which explores the dynamics between the Creations and their Creators. Ironically enough, the Creations are the ones who hold divine powers, not the Creators, who are only normal humans like all of us. There's this one memorable episode where a Creation gets pretty shaken up over the carnage her powers cause, because in her own bright and beautiful fictional world, the carnage is nonexistent. Re:Creators is full of intriguing moments like these that make you realize that there's more to this Creator/Creation dynamic than you may have imagined when first thinking about such a plot. I believe that the first cour has done a good job so far in delivering this premise, with lots of interesting twists that got me wanting to wait for the next episode to provide an explanation. Unlike several other anime, Re:Creators has no source material, so there was no way to satiate my curiosity on why certain stuff in the story happens until the following week.

Probably one of the best parts about Re:Creators to me is how meta it can get sometimes due to the very nature of the show, which is founded upon fictional media itself! Without spoiling, I'll just say that certain key stuff from the story can be viewed IRL too on a "official" NicoNico page, and help add to the immersion of this series.

With that being said, a common reason why people have dropped this series is because of the first few episodes: after an action-packed Ep.1, us viewers are greeted with exposition after exposition behind the technicalities of Creations and Creators. Kinda like the first 40 minute-long episode of Fate/Zero where all the pronouns were being thrown around. Admittedly, this point is the reason why I give the story a 7 and not any higher. However, just like the above anime I've been constantly drawing parallels to, the story picks up significantly once the world-building is more or less settled, and you'll be glad that you endured the dry bit of the anime. That much I can guarantee you.

And now, the characters. Given the plethora of genres in actual fiction, there's bound to be lots of potential Creations, right? Well, Re:Creators does a commendable job in ensuring that each one of them has their own distinct personality and quirks. From a mad, talkative girl with the power of reversing cause-and-effect to a loudmouth guy with a something like a Stand and even a princess who fires out weapons like Gate of Babylon, Re:Creators has a nice diversity of Creations. The Creators too, are just as well fleshed-out. The best part of the characters would be the chemistry between Creator and Creation, as well as between Creations, which often manifests in very unexpected (and endearing) ways! And with more Creations pretty much confirmed for the second cour, this anime has almost nailed it in the character department... almost.

If there's one thing more contentious than the dry exposition, though, it's the protagonist of this story: Sota, who was the reason why I hesitate to give more than 7 points with regards to characters. Unlike the typical shounen protagonist, Sota is overwhelmingly ANNOYING and PATHETIC. If Emiya Shirou's "Hero of Justice" made you facepalm in Fate, Sota's unusually excessive hesitation and beating-around-the-bush will make you plant more than just a hand on your face. Heck, hindsight would reveal that a lot of the problems could have been solved if he wasn't a bumbling fool when it counted. Sota has arguably legitimate reasons for being this way, though, as the anime reveals later on, but I feel that in trying to portray a "realistic" person caught up in distress, the writers of Re:Creators forgot to give him some distinctly redeeming points in between to balance his feebleness out. (Apart from a speech he delivers in a later episode, but his presence still leaves a slightly sour taste in my mouth.) I do hope that the writers give him more moments to showcase some positive development surpassing of these weaknesses of him and redeems himself, because I feel that anime viewers who aren't very patient and tolerant will drop the anime due to his flaws sticking out like a sore thumb.
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Music/Sound: 9/10

Sawano Hiroyuki did a superb job in the music department. The instrumental and vocal tracks fitted in seamlessly with the ongoing scenes. I was literally staying up late just to wait for the OST Vol.1 to come out. I like how certain tracks would play during specific types of scenes as a type of leitmotif, which definitely contributed to the ambiance of whatever was happening.
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Art & Animation: 8/10

I like to judge the true worth of an anime with fight scenes based on... its fight scenes. TROYCA did pretty well, with the Creations and their magic powers being illustrated very beautifully and the flow of combat scenes being smooth for the most part. Character designs are well-done too, with some of the Creations having their own casual, outside-of-combat outfits too.

That being said, design plays an integral part in the plot, as the later episodes will reveal *winky face*
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Overall... 7.5-8/10

Re:Creators is a really solid show, it definitely deserves more traction and hype than it has now, which is why I've written such a long write-up for this review. As it is still an ongoing series ATM, my thoughts may not necessarily reflect things as you are reading it now. However, having finished the first cour, I can say with utmost certainty that Re:Creators is worth watching with lots of positive points that compensate from its flaws and make the show stand out from the rest, and make it a worthwhile watch even if it's still ongoing. I sincerely hope that the second cour does the show, and all its viewers, justice.

For the most part, Sword Art Online has been a rather divisive series: you either like it a lot, or don't. Being one of the first few series that I have watched, the anime has a unique place in my heart, although I do have my fair share of criticism towards it too.
Now let's cut to the chase; in my opinion, despite its fundamental flaws due to the series as a whole, Ordinal Scale is nonetheless a good step forward from the anime. And without further ado, let's begin my first review!

Story: 6/10
Disclaimer: This part was written after having watched the whole anime series, so ... newcomers' views may differ.
Ordinal Scale is set after the events of Mother's Rosario in SAO II and revolves around a new augmented-reality device, the "Augma", and the ARMMORPG "Ordinal Scale". However, things go awry and the well-being of its players becomes threatened, so our beloved protagonist, Kirito, has to step in.
Without spoiling the story, I'd like to say that the plot has improved from the anime series due to it dwelling less on poor, unnecessary character development and analysis and focusing more on action sequences, along with a comfortable pace that was easy to follow. However, the plot-armor/numerous plot-holes (which SAO, or more specifically, Kirito, is guilty of) as the movie approached the climax made it shy away from what could have been a very well executed masterpiece. The plot was also pretty predictable too, but arguably its simplicity could also be seen as one of its merits. Nonetheless, this is something you'll likely overlook if you're an avid fan of the series; in fact, arguably the plot seems to have been aiming to cater towards fans of the series in general, with lots of links to the first Arc (Aincrad) in particular. I feel that the less you dwell and nitpick on the logic of this movie, the better you'll enjoy and appreciate it.

Art: 7/10
Animation-wise, A-1 Pictures does a commendable job. Fight scenes were very fluid and the character designs were not vastly compromised despite having numerous scenes filled with many people in them. I particularly liked the designs of the two new characters in Ordinal Scale, namely, Yuna & Eiji. The enemies were also pretty menacing in appearance, and I totally understand the players' fear of having to face them up close. And in this one particularly emotional scene for the characters, the wavering in Kirito and Asuna's eyes was so well detailed, and it really brought out the gravity of the situation they were in.
I think A-1 Pictures maintained, if not improved, from the standards seen in the anime series, so kudos to them.

Sound: 9/10
The composer, Yuki Kajiura, does an excellent job yet again. The epic-vibes in the mostly orchestral music complemented the action sequences very well (and without spoiling anything, in fact contributed to the actual battles too). One of the Insert Songs in particular that played during the first boss fight (longing) sounded very similar to Fate/Zero's awesome OP 2 (a series Kajiura has worked on as well), and that is a great thing.
However! I'm not sure if this was just an issue in my cinema or where I was seated at, but the sound effects in the battles were noticeably loud and initially made my eardrums (and the rest of the audiences' too) ache a little. Do take note!

Character: 6-7/10
With regards to the new characters, they had lots of potential (Eiji in particular) but kind of fell short in the end.
Eiji, in particular, was a pretty decently written anti-Kirito (weaker in the virtual world but more powerful in augmented reality) who had a pretty simple yet understandable motive. I liked how he was rather straight-forward in terms of his character. Slight spoilers here, but I do wish they tied-up the loose ends in his story though, as he kind of just disappeared in the end, and perhaps a shot at redemption for him would have been very fitting. In general, I think Eiji deserved a lot more in the story, and I hope he does appear in future SAO media.
As for Yuna, thankfully she didn't end up as another harem addition. She's pretty key to the whole story, and I appreciate how her development wasn't lacking as much as I thought it would despite being a plot-device. I would say that she could have received much more development, but there's a particularly "spoilery" reason pertaining to the plot that explains why she is sort of constrained in this department. So I'm fine with her thus far.
Lastly, the new scientist dude... it's difficult to write about him without going through spoilers, but his role in the story was alright and I think he's someone the audience would understand well. But he is pretty simplistic of a character too, with not that much depth to him either.

Enjoyment: 7/10
As someone who likes SAO, I really appreciated the links to the previous works in the series, and I'm sure other avid fans would too. Apart from the aforementioned sound issues, the movie was very enjoyable. The presence of lots of fans during my screening and their candid reactions made the viewing more pleasurable too. Even if you come in with low expectations (likely due to the anime series or poor word-of-mouth) or not knowing the series at all, Ordinal Scale is a movie that would be pretty difficult to dislike unless you are the movie-goer who often nitpicks on things.

VERDICT:
All in all, Ordinal Scale could be said to be a shining addition in the otherwise slightly-mediocre Sword Art Online anime series. Reki Kawahara's improvements in writing (as seen in Progressive in Alicization) manifest especially well here. This movie is not a must-watch, but you wouldn't regret watching it either. 7/10 for me!